WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From Oscar Sales, Jr. White Plains Performing Arts Center. February 4, 2005: Two legendary actors take the stage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center in a new dramatic play by Jeffrey Sweet. The Value of Names is an intriguing look at the aftermath of the Hollywood blacklisting of the 1950’s. The Value of Names is directed by James Glossman and plays the White Plains Performing Arts Center March 4-13, 2005.
Set on the patio of a beachside home in Malibu in 1981, Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple, Quincy) plays actor Benny Silverman, star of the hit situation comedy Rich But Happy, whose career was interrupted by the Hollywood blacklist. His daughter, Norma, has just been cast in a play to be directed by Leo Greshen, the man who testified against Benny before the House Un-American Activities Commission.
Suddenly, Benny must deal with the troubling history he has tried to forget. At Norma’s urging, Benny meets Leo, played by Louis Zorich (Mad About You, Brooklyn Bridge). The two men, who were once great friends, but have not spoken to each other in thirty years, are forced to confront one another. The Value of Names explores issues of culpability, forgiveness, and how the next generation must deal with the mistakes from the past through a provocative and passionate exchange of ideas.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Jack Klugman knew he wanted to be an actor and after World War II, used his GI Bill to attend Carnegie Tech in Pittsburg. His first big break on the New York stage came with a role opposite Kim Stanley in St. Joan followed by Stevedore with Rod Steiger. On Broadway, he starred in Golden Boy, Mr. Roberts, The Odd Couple, Gypsy (with Ethel Merman), Tchin-Tchin and The Sudden and Accidental Reeducation of Horse Johnson. Jack then moved on to films and television. His numerous film appearances include: Timetable, Twelve Angry Men, Days of Wine and Roses, Act One, The Dective, Goodbye Columbus, The Two Minute Warning and many others. But it is his television starring roles in “The Odd Couple” and “Quincy” that have given him his greatest triumphs and have earned him many prestigious awards including three Emmys, a Golden Globe and a Chloe Award.
Louis Zorich has worked extensively in the theatre. His Broadway credits include: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Follies, 45 Seconds from Broadway, She Loves, Me, Arms and the Man, Death of a Salesman (with Dustin Hoffman), and many others. A frequent performer at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he co-founded the Whole Theatre with his wife, Olympia Dukakis. He has appeared in over 300 television shows and as a series regular in “Brooklyn Bridge” and “Mad About You.”
Jeffrey Sweet is resident playwright at the Tony Award-winning Victory Gardens Theatre. He has premiered or developed more than a dozen plays, many of which have gone on to successful mountings around the country and internationally. He was won two American Theatre Critics Association playwriting prizes, the Kennedy Center American Express Award, the Joseph Jefferson Award, a “Best Plays” Citation and the Outer Critics Circle Award. He is currently a faculty member of Lehman College.
The Value of Names also stars Megan Muchelmann as Norma and is directed by James Glossman.
The Value of Names plays the White Plains Performing Arts Center from March 4-13, 2005. Tickets are $32.50-$45 with Senior Citizen and Group discounts available. To order tickets, call the Box Office at 888-977-2250. Visit our web site at www.wppac.com.
The Value of Names is made possible in part with special funding from the David Schwartz Foundation.
